From Defender suit to defender + purview suit

Question

How can a customer that bought the defender suit upgrade to defender + purview suit?

Answer 1

Hello Teresa Virgínia,

You may want to check with your Microsoft partner regarding the available upgrade options. In most cases, the simplest approach is to cancel the existing add-on and purchase the combined Defender and Purview suite. That said, I’d recommend discussing this with your partner to fully understand the implications and ensure the best path forward.

Answer 2

A customer who already purchased the Microsoft Defender Suite and wants to move to a combined Defender + Purview (security + compliance) capability needs to add the Microsoft Purview Suite as an additional subscription and then manage/align licenses accordingly. The Defender Suite and Purview Suite are separate “mini-suites” that can be combined but are not described in the context as a single bundled SKU.

From the provided information:

• Microsoft 365 E5 Security is being renamed to Microsoft Defender Suite.
• Microsoft 365 E5 Compliance is being renamed to Microsoft Purview Suite.
• These suites are designed to work together to handle external cyber threats (Defender Suite) and internal data risks/compliance (Purview Suite) as integrated solutions.

Given this, the supported path is:

1. Keep the existing Microsoft Defender Suite subscription in place.
2. Purchase/assign the Microsoft Purview Suite subscription in addition, so users who need both capabilities have both suites assigned.
3. Use standard subscription upgrade/transition capabilities in Partner Center if moving from underlying standalone SKUs to the Purview Suite (for example, using full or partial upgrades as described for new commerce license-based subscriptions), ensuring all licensing prerequisites for the Purview Suite are met.

If the customer currently holds multiple standalone security or compliance SKUs and wants to consolidate into Defender + Purview, a partner can:

1. Use two-to-one upgrades and full/partial upgrades in Partner Center to move existing standalone SKUs into the appropriate suite(s), following the upgrade rules (minimum license counts, prerequisites, and non-reversibility where applicable).
2. Ensure that, after upgrades, each user who needs both security and compliance capabilities has both the Defender Suite and Purview Suite licenses assigned.

Because the context does not define a single “Defender + Purview Suite” SKU, the practical upgrade path is to add the Purview Suite alongside the existing Defender Suite and manage licenses so that target users hold both.

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References:

• October 2025 announcements
• Manage customer subscriptions